Luthor Huss
Skills Warrior-Priest: The Priesthood of Sigmar holds the belief that, to help the weak, one must themselves become strong, the better to support those who cannot support themselves. As a result, the Priesthood is not just trained in theological matters, but also in the arts of war, and Luthor Huss is no exception. He is a highly competent and professional close-quarters fighter, wielding his two-handed hammer with a great deal of skill. In addition, unlike other, softer priesthoods, the sons of Sigmar go clad in plate armour, giving Huss a decent level of protection against most weapons, up to and partially including primitive firearms. Anything more modern than this will, of course, defeat the medieval style of armour. Luthor is also an excellent orator, able to rouse a crowd with his speeches and inspire courage where there was previously only terror with the right words, and is also strong-willed, making him somewhat difficult to influence or control by mundane means. Magical manipulation, of course, will affect him like any other human, though he will fight against it more vigorously than some. The Prayer of Sigmar: Though the Warrior-Priests are not explicitly magical, there is one feature of their rituals that is undeniably so; the Prayer of Sigmar. Such a prayer can only ever be performed when the Warrior-Priest is on death’s doorstep, or it simply will not work, acting like any other mundane prayer. Holding both his war-hammer and the pendant of the Twin-Tailed Comet around his neck, the Priest can channel into themselves a small portion of the power of Sigmar himself, rising to do battle again in one last desperate effort. In this state, a golden aura surrounds the priest, his eyes will burn as if with golden light, and his strength and endurance will be fully restored to him and even enhanced, roughly doubling his natural strength. However, this metamorphosis lasts for just 2 minutes, and once it is over, the Priest will revert to being wounded and probably dying; as well as this, the Prayer does not render them invulnerable, and they can still be killed like any normal man when in this state. Personality Luthor Huss is, in a way, what the subjects of the Empire think of when they hear the term “Warrior-Priest;” fiery, somewhat bombastic and stern, but courageous in the extreme. Huss has never run away from a fight in his life, or so the tale goes, and he isn’t about to start now just because he’s been brought to a different realm of existence. He is considered a radical by other priests, due to his hardline stance on corruption in religious organisations, and open scorn for the idea of clergy members becoming wealthy rather than tending to religious matters. In terms of his faith, Luthor is a strong believer in the basic tenets of the worship of Sigmar; that strength is a tool to help the weak become strong themselves, that if a man cannot fight his enemies on his own it is the duty of his fellow men to aid him, and that a true son of Sigmar doesn’t lead through oratory, but by example. He is deeply religious, and will spend a notable amount of each day in prayer and contemplation, before going out to fulfil his oaths and help whoever might need him. He does not limit this merely to violent situations, but also to more basic favours, as he is a generous man by nature, and has thus adapted the words of Sigmar to reflect his personal outlook. However, in battle, he is a fierce and near-fearless fighter, standing his ground when more prudent soldiers will have retreated and holding his ground until he absolutely cannot do so for a moment longer. His courage is legendary in the Empire, as is his habit of living in Spartan conditions and humble surroundings whenever he can; Luthor firmly believes that wealth is all well and good, but pursuit of it can corrupt as surely as the worship of the forbidden Gods of the far North can. Appearance Huss is a tall, broad man, standing at just less than 6ft and weighing close to 200lbs, a great deal of which is made up of muscle mass. His features are stern and hard, with sharp, hawklike eyes set by a nose that has clearly been broken at least once in his life. He is bald, a part of the oaths he took being to shave one’s head clean of hair in order to avoid personal vanity, and set on his brow is a circlet of iron, symbolic of Sigmar’s own past as a king of the people who would become the subjects of the Empire. His armour is simple in design, though segments of it carry the motif of the Twin-Tailed Comet, the sign of Huss’ god, and around his neck is a pendant carved in the shape of that same symbol. He carries a prayer-book chained to his belt at all times, which is leathery and worn with age. His eyes are a steely grey in colour. Relationships Jack Jackson - Though they have only just met, both seem bound for the shrine atop Mount Pompeii, and so it seems that their tales will intersect somewhat as time goes on. Hiccup Haddock - The go-to guy for Huss' armour and weaponry repair needs, and a bright and able young lad in the Priest's eyes. History Luthor Huss started life an orphan, his parents and most of his village killed in a raid by the warriors of the Northlands, worshippers of the Dark Gods. Taken in by the priest who accompanied a relief force to the village, Huss was brought up in the temples of Sigmar, and eventually took the decision, age 14, to become a priest himself. As he understood it, the priests of Sigmar were sworn enemies of the Chaos Gods, the gods of the men who had killed his family, and he swore an oath to stand against such incursions, and do his best to prevent such raids and the tragedies that result from them happening again in the future. For eight years, Huss trained his body in the arts of fighting, and studied the texts and scriptures that formed the basis of the Sigmarite faith, showing an aptitude for understanding both. Finally, in his twenty-second year, Huss was asked to perform a quest of faith; to journey to a village on the borders of the Drakwald Forest, and drive out the beastmen that were attacking it. Luthor accepted without a moment’s hesitation. Immediately upon arriving, the young novice threw himself into the fight, the beleaguered soldiers and village militia taking heart at the sight of the young man’s courage and skill. The army detachments pushed the beasts back into the forest, but after some debate, decided not to pursue the raiders any further. The forest was dark, deep and extremely restrictive to movement, and the beastmen would almost certainly have the advantage in there, and that was without mentioning the risk of ambushes and traps that the men would face. Huss, however, pushed on, eventually disappearing into the heart of the forest itself. For days, the army waited for him to return, until they finally and regretfully concluded that Huss had died a warrior’s death in the shadow of the Drakwald. However, just as the soldiers were preparing to leave, a figure staggered out of the woods, bloody and clearly in a lot of pain, but standing proud and strong still. Huss had fought his way to the heart of the beastman tribe, and had killed their leader, bringing its head back as a token of his success. After that exploit, the Priesthood fully accepted him as one of their own with full honours. Huss did not rest on his laurels, however, and set out to wander the provinces of the Empire, beating back the raiders of Chaos wherever he might find them. His travels took him far and wide, and many priests who had seemingly forgotten their oaths and had instead turned to politics and amassing personal fortune soon came to regret offering Luthor a place to stay in the villages and towns they lived in. Soon, a small but vocal number of priests were calling for Luthor’s excommunication. The Grand Theogonist, leader of the Temple of Sigmar, merely smiled amusedly, and refused to do so. In his eyes, the priesthood could use someone with the fire of zeal in him anyway. However, soon the clergy would be thrown into even greater debate by the actions of Huss. In one village he came to, the battle priest found himself confronted with a vital young man, a massively strong blacksmith’s son who had, according to the villagers, single-handedly defeated a beastman horde with nothing more than the twin hammers of his father. Most crucially of all, the boy bore a strange birthmark, a blemish that looked incredibly like the Twin-Tailed Comet. After spending a year with the lad, Huss’ mind was made up, and to the great shock of not only the Sigmarites but the Empire in general, he declared the man, called Valten, to be the heir of Sigmar himself. After taking him to see the Emperor himself, Huss declared Valten should be allowed to represent his people, as Sigmar’s Chosen was supposed to do, by ascending the Imperial throne. Karl Franz, the then-Emperor, refused to step down, but instead gifted Valten with Ghal Maraz, the hammer that supposedly belonged to Sigmar himself in ages past, and declared him spiritual leader of the Empire. And then the Storm of Chaos broke over the Empire, unleashing Archaon, the greatest Chaos warlord to ever have lived. Thousands of people died in the months following the initial invasion, and cities became burned wrecks, or worse. Huss asked permission to accompany Franz and Valten to the battle at Middenheim; this was it, the battle that would decide whether the Empire stood or fell, and he didn’t want to have to watch from a distance as his future, and the future of the people he was sworn to serve, was fought out by other men. Accepting, they marched to the besieged city at the head of an enormous force, an even vaster horde awaiting them at the gates of the fortress-city. There, Valten confronted his rival and ultimate nemesis, Archaon, with Luthor at his side. The Chosen of Sigmar and the Lord of the End Times traded blows with one another for what seemed like hours, until Archaon impaled Valten on his blade, at the cost of his own wounds. Horrified, Luthor roared a challenge and stood in the Chaos Lord’s path, buying time for Valten to counterattack by slamming his hammer repeatedly into Archaon’s head, forcing him to one knee and causing him to reel in pain. However, even humbled, the Lord of the End Times was more than a match for the Warrior-Priest, despite Huss’ courage. He backhanded the priest, sending him flying away, and rendering him unconscious. Even as the world became black, Huss felt something tugging at him; many somethings, like snakes or tentacles of some sort. As he passed out, he resigned himself to death. However, death was not to be Huss’ fate that day… Pandora History